Demos Applauds Gov. Brown for New CA Same Day Registration Law

NEW YORK – Today, Governor Jerry Brown signed California Assembly Bill 1436 providing for future implementation of Election Day Voter Registration, also known as “Same Day Registration,” a reform that Demos and over two dozen voting rights organizations supported. In response, Demos President Miles Rapoport, former Secretary of the State of Connecticut, issued the following statement:

This is an important step toward giving Californians power over the decisions that affect their lives, communities, and economy.

“We praise Governor Brown for signing Same Day Registration into law in California on the eve of National Voter Registration Day. This law will help expand the freedom to vote for thousands of Californians by eliminating arbitrary pre-election deadlines and allowing voters to register and vote on Election Day.

“Same Day Registration has proven a success in states across the nation, increasing political participation an average of seven percent and helping to make elections free, fair, and accessible for all eligible voters. While we wish this new law allowed for registration at every polling place – instead of solely the headquarter or satellite offices of county elections officials – this is an important step toward giving Californians power over the decisions that affect their lives, communities, and economy.”

For ten years, Demos has championed solutions to a variety of critical voting rights issues, including Same Day Registration. This week, along with hundreds of other voting rights groups, Demos is pulling out all the stops to make sure that every eligible voter is registered and able to vote in this critical election year. Read Demos’ 2012 National Voter Registration Day blog series at Policyshop.net, which launched Monday with a new brief “Free The Vote: Cutting Red Tape From The Voting Process.”

Miles Rapoport and other Demos voting rights experts are available for comment; please see the contact information above.